i5 Dual monitors setup

[brickhead]

First, I want to thank you guys for this very comprehensive blog/forum, this is a milestone in the osx86 community, well done!

I’ve been doing my homework looking dozens of web pages to design a hackintosh with the following characteristics:
- Budget, same or less than the iMac 27’’ i5 that I stopped after being ordered because of the many issues
- Dual monitors (love huge workspace, opposed to very expensive 27’’ & 30’’ IPS displays)
- As much compatible as possible for OS X to avoid tweaking a lot
- Dual Windows/OS X boot
- Occasional gaming
- As silent as possible on the budget

So this is what I have decided and submit for your approval

Core i5 750
GIGABYTE P55M-UD2
4 GB DDR3-1333 CL7 (any brand)
2x WD Caviar SE16 500GB
XFX GTS250 1GB 2xDVI
Antec Mini P180
Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Antec EarthWatts 2.0 500W
2x NEC MultiSync EA231WMi


What do you think guys?
My last doubts were:
- 9800gt vs GTS 250, the GTS will do the job from start to finish right? I don't have a spare 6xx,7xx,8xx for the installation process only…
- ! or two HD, finally I decided two and will select the boot one with bios, but anyway, I do have to install Chamaleon boot loader in the OS X HD right?
- Any expected issues with dual monitors that I should know?

Thanks a lot everybody again.

 

[thelostswede]

All looks fine to me and afaik GTS 250 cards do dual display (mine does at least).

Yes, Chameleon goes on the OS X drive. Just make sure you only have one drive plugged in when you install either OS.

 

[tonymacx86]

First, I want to thank you guys for this very comprehensive blog/forum, this is a milestone in the osx86 community, well done!

I’ve been doing my homework looking dozens of web pages to design a hackintosh with the following characteristics:
- Budget, same or less than the iMac 27’’ i5 that I stopped after being ordered because of the many issues
- Dual monitors (love huge workspace, opposed to very expensive 27’’ & 30’’ IPS displays)
- As much compatible as possible for OS X to avoid tweaking a lot
- Dual Windows/OS X boot
- Occasional gaming
- As silent as possible on the budget

So this is what I have decided and submit for your approval

Core i5 750
GIGABYTE P55M-UD2
4 GB DDR3-1333 CL7 (any brand)
2x WD Caviar SE16 500GB
XFX GTS250 1GB 2xDVI
Antec Mini P180
Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Antec EarthWatts 2.0 500W
2x NEC MultiSync EA231WMi


What do you think guys?
My last doubts were:
- 9800gt vs GTS 250, the GTS will do the job from start to finish right? I don't have a spare 6xx,7xx,8xx for the installation process only…
- ! or two HD, finally I decided two and will select the boot one with bios, but anyway, I do have to install Chamaleon boot loader in the OS X HD right?
- Any expected issues with dual monitors that I should know?

Thanks a lot everybody again.

Thanks for the kind words- we're doing what we can! You're good to go with any nVidia card- thelostswede can comment on the 250's dual display options, but I'm pretty sure it should work with graphicsenabler only.

Make sure your RAM actually states that it is i5/i7 compatible- these boards can be picky- I made that mistake initially and bought generic DDR3 ram which ended up NOT working.

Two drives will make the dual boot MUCH easier- 2 partitions is ok, but you'll definitely be glad not to have to mess with MBR.

Good luck!

 

[brickhead]

Thanks for the quick responses. I read about the memory in other posts, and in the motherboard manual it says 1.5v memories, so I found this 4Gb kit:
GeIL Kit DIMM 4 GB DDR3-1333 (GV34GB1333C7DC)

In the motherboard memory compatibility list the GV32GB1333C7DC is listed, so I expect them to work fine.

Just in case someone is interested, these are the best deals I can find here in Spain, prices listed in euros:

Core i5 750 180
GIGABYTE P55M-UD2 103
GeIL Kit DIMM 4 GB DDR3-1333 (GV34GB1333C7DC) 112
WD Caviar SE16 46
WD Caviar SE16 46
XFX GTS250 1GB 115
Antec Mini P180 69
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 57
Antec EarthWatts 2.0 500W 69
LG GH-22NS 17
NEC MultiSync EA231WMi 299
NEC MultiSync EA231WMi 299

Grand total 1412€

So I save some money compared to 1749€ of my original budget (iMac 27'' i5), in fact, if the other monitor I'm considering, the LG 2220P, is already available, I will reduce to 1352€

 

[thelostswede]

Looking good there, want to ship a couple of those displays over?

 

[brickhead]

Looking good there, want to ship a couple of those displays over?

My prefered option was the DELL 2209WA listed at 309$ in USA (228€), but damm, in Spain DELL asks 404€... it's almost double the price!!!

The LG was just released in Germany, I hope it to spread over europe quickly enough so I can get them and save some bucks, those have an HDMI which is a plus and 16:10 aspect ratio which I prefer. The aspect ratio of the NEC's is the only thing I don't like, but I get extra 300 pixels wide for 20 euros more each... I can live with 16:9

 

[thelostswede]

Well, if you're happy using TN panels, see if you can't find a pair of Samsung SyncMaster 2343's they have 2048x1152 resolution

 

[brickhead]

thelostwede, the gigabyte card you are using has two DVI outs? I prefer to go for a car proven to work with dual monitors...

 

[thelostswede]

No, it's got DVI, HDMI and D-sub, someone else has the same card here and he can use any combination of two of those ports.

 

[Lnx2Mac]

I'm considering a similar setup... (See viewtopic.php?f=22&t=735 )

And am obsessed with silent PCs as well...

Based on reviews/price, it seems the Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B is better value than the Noctua.
As for GPU, dunno if it's enough, but I'm leaning towards a "Palit nVIDIA GeForce 9400GT Super+ 1GB"...
It might be less powerful, but it's passively cooled...

Also, I saw a passively cooled PSU: the "fsp zen 400" though I'm not sure if 400W is enough for these beasts.

Lnx2mac